Eliza Dushku's 30th Birthday Wish: Assistance For Child Soldiers

By Sarah Crow Posted Dec 21st 2010 06:00PM

While many people imagine lavish gifts and parties when they think about their birthday, actress Eliza Dushku's only wish an altruistic one.

The 'Dollhouse' star enlisted Tonic's help in her quest to buy land in Uganda on which to build a recovery facility for the war-torn African nation's child soldiers and women forced into the sex trade.

Dushku describes how children are "still coming out of the bush after being grabbed out of bed in the middle of the night and handed an AK-47."

The actress, who turns 30 on December 30th, is enlisting the help of generous individuals to raise $30,000 needed to assist these individuals. The actress, who visited Gulu, Uganda in 2009 with her mother and boyfriend, Rick Fox, says of the effort, "Think of these kids being forced to become killers. I can't imagine anything more horrifying."

Dushku's inspiration for the campaign is her mother, Judith, an African politics professor at Boston's Suffolk University who runs non-profit organization THARCE-Gulu, whose goal is the creation and management of the rehabilitation center.

The success of THARCE-Gulu is just the beginning of Dushku's mission. "I'm realizing how many stories I want to tell about the people of the world," she says.

Tags: eliza dushku

Comments

(3)

Tuesday 21 December

By Fireflystare221

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Good for you, Eliza. I always like to see others doing good for people in the world. This is a great iniative and will no doubt benefit those poor children. She is right, I can't think of many things more horrifying than children forced into war or sex slavery. If anyone is interested in this topic, I suggest reading Ishmael Beah's memoir, A Long Way Down. It is a gripping tale of Beah's capture and life as a child soldier. I had the opportunity to meet him and hear him speak. It was one of the most moving experiences I have ever had.

By Elizabeth

Good for you! Faith was acutally a better choice of name than anyone could have known at the time.

By thudula

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I respect this woman any one who would like to help please contact her.

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